Viper Industrial Products, which supplies pneumatic nailing tools, nailing machines and fasteners for the pallet industry, has developed a new machine designed to automatically nail pallets built with recycled lumber. The new machine also can nail remanufactured and ‘combo’ pallets -- pallets built with a combination of new lumber and recycled pallet components.

The machine, operated by one worker, is equipped with four pneumatic nailing tools and a unique hold-down system featuring round rails and washers. The pallet is turned over manually to nail the top face, and the finished pallet is ejected automatically into a stacker.

The machine also features an automated system for driving nails that recognizes the width of the deck board and eliminates the need for pins that hold boards in place and signal when to drive a fastener.
The new Viper machine can nail pallets ranging from 24x24 to 60x60. It has a quick changeover because of the unique board hold-down system and firing system.

Pallet assembly machines generally are not fast and consistent when it comes to nailing recycled material, noted Viper president Todd Mazur.

The benefits of this new prototype machine are that it is capable of nailing pallets built with recycled lumber efficiently and productively. It can produce about one pallet per minute, or about 400 in an 8-hour shift, according to Mazur. That compares favorably to an average of 200 pallets per day that a worker may be able to produce by hand with a pneumatic nailing tool. So, the machine can double production with a consistent nail pattern, and it also makes the work easier for an employee by reducing fatigue.
Mazur described the machine as a “game changer” for the industry.

Arkansas-based Viper sourced the first new machine at the request of a long-term customer, Shipping Resources Inc. in Garfield, Arkansas, which helped develop and refine the prototype, and since then Viper has sold two more units.

“It’s something we’ve been working on for a couple of years,” said Mazur, in response to industry demand. “For every three calls we get, one asks if it will build pallets made of recycled lumber,” he said.
“We’ve had so much interest in a machine that will nail recycled material,” said Mazur, because of an increase in pallet recycling and ‘combo’ pallets in recent years.